Nominees Announced For 2012 Eisner Awards

Comic-Con International (Comic-Con) is proud to announce the nominations for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2012. The nominees, chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of judges, reflect the wide range of material being published in comics and graphic novel form today, from nursery rhymes and World War II battles to high school angst and pulp fiction.

Topping the 2012 list with 6 nominations is Marvel's "Daredevil," with nods for Best Continuing Series, Best Single Issue, Best Writer (Mark Waid), Best Cover Artist (Marcos Martin), and Best Penciller/Inker Team (two nominations: Marcos Martin, and Paolo Rivera/Joe Rivera). Close behind with 5 nominations is "Jim Henson's Tale of Sand," an original graphic novel of an unproduced, feature-length screenplay written by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl, adapted by artist Ramón K. Pérez, published by Archaia. The book is up for Best Graphic Album-New, Best Penciller/Inker, Best Coloring, Best Lettering, and Best Publication Design.

Three titles have 3 nominations: Vertigo/DC's "iZombie" (Best Penciller/Inker and Best Cover Artist for Michael Allred, Best Coloring for Laura Allred) and "The Unwritten" (Best Single Issue, Best Writer for Mike Carey, Best Cover Artist for Yuko Shimizu), and IDW's "Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition," by Darwyn Cooke (Best Short Story, Best Graphic Album-Reprint, Best Publication Design). Sixteen titles had 2 nominations, and the remaining nominations were spread among nearly 100 books and comics in 27 categories.

DC and Marvel tied for the most nominations for a publisher, each having 11 nominations plus 2 shared. For DC, Vertigo had the lion's share of nominations, led by "iZombie" and "The Unwritten." In addition to the "Daredevil" nods, Marvel had 2 nominations for Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' "Criminal: The Last of the Innocents" under the Icon imprint. IDW also had 11 nominations, dominating the Best Archival Collection, Comics-Related Book, and Publication Design categories. Close behind with 10 nominations (plus 1 shared) is Dark Horse, including 2 each for "Dark Horse Presents," Jeff Jensen's Green "River Killer," and Stan Sakai's "Usagi Yojimbo." Next, with 9 (plus 1 shared) is Fantagraphics, including 3 nominations each in the Archival and International categories.

Although the judges have honored the superhero series "Daredevil" with the largest single number of nominations, they have selected a wide range of works from other genres and smaller presses, including nominations for several non-American creators within non-international categories. These creators include French cartoonists Dilles, Émile Bravo, Philippe Coudray, Nix, and Sylvain Savoia; Japanese creators Naoki Urasawa and Shiguru Mizuki; Croatian artist Tonci Zonjic; Argentinian artist Eduardo Risso; Spanish artist Marcos Martin; Italian artists Francesco Frankavilla and Sara Picelli; Polish author Marzena Sowa; Iranians Amir and Khalil; and over a dozen Canadian and British creators.

This year's judges added two new categories: Best Publication for Early Readers, and Best Educational/Academic Work. They also dropped four categories from the previous year: Best New Series, Best Adaptation from Another Medium, Best Writer/Artist-Nonfiction, and Best Painter/Multimedia Artist. According to Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada, "The judges chose to not have the New Series and Painter categories this year because they didn't find enough contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for." However, Estrada says, "the extent and quality of the material submitted in the Kids and Teen categories was so high that the judges felt dividing these books into three categories was warranted."

Ballots with this year's nominees will be going out in mid-April to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers. A downloadable pdf of the ballot is available online, and a special website has been set up for online voting: www.eisnervote.com. The results in all categories will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 13 at Comic-Con International.

Voting in one Eisner Awards category, the Hall of Fame, is already completed. The judges chose the nominees earlier this year, and voting was conducted solely online.

The Eisner Awards are part of Comic-Con International, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular artforms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture. Jackie Estrada has been administrator of the Awards since 1990.

Best Short Story"A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture," by Adrian Tomine, in "Optic Nerve" #12 (Drawn & Quarterly)"Harvest of Fear," by Jim Woodring, in The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror #17 (Bongo)"The Phototaker," by Guy Davis, in "Metal Hurlant" vol. 2 (Humanoids)"The Seventh," by Darwyn Cooke, in "Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition" (IDW)"The Speaker," by Brandon Graham, in Dark Horse Presents #7 (Dark Horse)

Best Limited Series"Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X," by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener (Red 5)"Criminal: The Last of the Innocent," by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)"Flashpoint: Batman - Knight of Vengeance," by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)"The New York Five," by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly (Vertigo/DC)"Who Is Jake Ellis?" by Nathan Edmondson & Tonci Zonjic (Image)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7)"Beauty and the Squat Bears," by Émile Bravo (Yen Press)"Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking," by Philippe Coudray (Candlewick/Toon Books)"Dragon Puncher Island," by James Kochalka (Top Shelf)"Nursery Rhyme Comics," edited by Chris Duffy (First Second)"Patrick in a Teddy Bear's Picnic," by Geoffrey Hayes (Candlewick/Toon Books)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12)"The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold," by Sholly Fisch, Rick Burchett, and Dan Davis (DC)"Amelia Rules: The Meaning of Life ... And Other Stuff," by Jimmy Gownley (Atheneum)"The Ferret's a Foot," by Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue (Graphic Universe/Lerner)"Princeless," by Jeremy Whitley and M. Goodwin (Action Lab)"Snarked," by Roger Langridge (kaboom!)"Zita the Space Girl," by Ben Hatke (First Second)

Best Digital Comic"Bahrain," by Josh Neufeld, www.cartoonmovement.com/comic/24"Battlepug," by Mike Norton, www.battlepug.com"Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant," by Tony Cliff, www.delilahdirk.com"Outfoxed," by Dylan Meconis, www.dylanmeconis.com/outfoxed"Sarah and the Seed," by Ryan Andrews, www.ryan-a.com/comics/sarahandtheseed01.htm

Best U.S. Edition of International Material"Bubbles & Gondola," by Renaud Dillies (NBM)"Isle of 100,000 Graves," by Fabien Vehlmann and Jason (Fantagraphics)"Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot," by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Patrick Manchette (Fantagraphics)"The Manara Library, vol. 1: Indian Summer and Other Stories," by Milo Manara with Hugo Pratt (Dark Horse Books)"Night Animals: A Diptych About What Rushes Through the Bushes," by Brecht Evens (Top Shelf)

Best Educational/Academic Work"Alan Moore: Conversations," ed. by Eric Berlatsky (University Press of Mississippi)"Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice," by Ivan Brunetti (Yale University Press)"Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods," edited by Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan (Routledge)"Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby," by Charles Hatfield (University Press of Mississippi)"Projections: Comics and the History of 21st Century Storytelling," by Jared Gardner (Stanford University Press)

Best Comics-Related Book"Archie: A Celebration of America's Favorite Teenagers," edited by Craig Yoe (IDW/Yoe Books)"Caniff: A Visual Biography," edited by Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)"Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising," edited by Rick Marschall and Warren Bernard (Fantagraphics/Marschall Books)"Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth," designed by Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)"MetaMaus," by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon)

Best Publication Design"Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth," designed by Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)"Jim Henson's Tale of Sand," designed by Eric Skillman (Archaia) Kinky & Cosy, designed by Nix (NBM)"The MAD Fold-In Collection," designed by Michael Morris (Chronicle)"Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition," designed by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)